NEW DELHI: The logjam in Parliament
could ease by Thursday with both Houses likely to discuss "black money"
while a contentious debate on price rise where the government is not
ready for vote may be put off until next week.
It is likely that a Left motion on inflation is taken up only on Monday by when the government hopes it will be able to persuade the CPM to drop its insistence on a motion that entails a vote.
With finance minister Pranab Mukherjee expressing confidence to party colleagues over handling a debate on the return of black money and prosecution of offenders, BJP veteran L K Advani's adjournment motion is likely to be accepted on Thursday. The government reckons it is on firmer ground on black money than price rise.
Mukherjee feels he can defend the government's record on the ground that UPA-2 has done more than any previous government to track illegal wealth stashed in foreign accounts and to track and prevent such transactions and is certain to refer to BJP's term in office.
The stage is set for an interesting clash of wits between the BJP and the government as a logjam over inflation suddenly pushed the "black money" debate up front. The Rajya Sabha is expected to entertain a calling attention on encephalitis deaths in east UP and a discussion on foreign accounts.
BJP has harped on the government's refusal to disclose names of Indian account holders in HSBC bank in Geneva and LGT Bank in Liechtenstein in Germany while the Centre has argued that this is due to strict secrecy clauses in tax detection agreements with these countries.
Both Houses were disrupted on Wednesday as CPM - which even ignored its Left Front partner CPI's reservations -- sought to make a political point by forcing rival Trinamool Congress to vote on a motion on inflation.
With BJP benches allowing CPM to take the lead, the communist party was keen to put Trinamool in a spot as Mamata Banerjee's outfit would have little option but to oppose the motion by voting UPA. This, CPM calculates, will expose Trinamool's criticism of price rise as just convenient rhetoric.
There were signals that CPM might mellow as the day progressed, but no deal could be secured till evening while the government seems to have taken the view that it can present a better defence on black money in comparison to inflation that has generated deep public resentment.
Left appeared to be softening as it was felt that if day three of the winter session were also to be wasted, the opposition's tactics would become counter-productive. The opposition was already being blamed for being obstructionist although Congress MPs from Telangana were party to the first disruption in Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
BJP, however, promptly put the ball in the government's court with deputy leader in Rajya Sabha S S Ahluwalia saying, "We want to clarify our position... it is the government's responsibility to run Parliament" as he refuted the charge that BJP was not allowing Parliament to function.
Government's chief trouble shooter Pranab Mukherjee continued with his luncheon diplomacy with a meeting with SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Wednesday after confabulations with BJP president Nitin Gadkari and the Left.
In a bid to persuade the Left from pressing for a division, Mukherjee pointed to the government's narrow margin in Lok Sabha and warned the communists that loss of face over a key motion may well spell the end of UPA-2. In the event of such political instability and a fresh election, the Left will have much to fear and nothing to gain.
It is likely that a Left motion on inflation is taken up only on Monday by when the government hopes it will be able to persuade the CPM to drop its insistence on a motion that entails a vote.
With finance minister Pranab Mukherjee expressing confidence to party colleagues over handling a debate on the return of black money and prosecution of offenders, BJP veteran L K Advani's adjournment motion is likely to be accepted on Thursday. The government reckons it is on firmer ground on black money than price rise.
Mukherjee feels he can defend the government's record on the ground that UPA-2 has done more than any previous government to track illegal wealth stashed in foreign accounts and to track and prevent such transactions and is certain to refer to BJP's term in office.
The stage is set for an interesting clash of wits between the BJP and the government as a logjam over inflation suddenly pushed the "black money" debate up front. The Rajya Sabha is expected to entertain a calling attention on encephalitis deaths in east UP and a discussion on foreign accounts.
BJP has harped on the government's refusal to disclose names of Indian account holders in HSBC bank in Geneva and LGT Bank in Liechtenstein in Germany while the Centre has argued that this is due to strict secrecy clauses in tax detection agreements with these countries.
Both Houses were disrupted on Wednesday as CPM - which even ignored its Left Front partner CPI's reservations -- sought to make a political point by forcing rival Trinamool Congress to vote on a motion on inflation.
With BJP benches allowing CPM to take the lead, the communist party was keen to put Trinamool in a spot as Mamata Banerjee's outfit would have little option but to oppose the motion by voting UPA. This, CPM calculates, will expose Trinamool's criticism of price rise as just convenient rhetoric.
There were signals that CPM might mellow as the day progressed, but no deal could be secured till evening while the government seems to have taken the view that it can present a better defence on black money in comparison to inflation that has generated deep public resentment.
Left appeared to be softening as it was felt that if day three of the winter session were also to be wasted, the opposition's tactics would become counter-productive. The opposition was already being blamed for being obstructionist although Congress MPs from Telangana were party to the first disruption in Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
BJP, however, promptly put the ball in the government's court with deputy leader in Rajya Sabha S S Ahluwalia saying, "We want to clarify our position... it is the government's responsibility to run Parliament" as he refuted the charge that BJP was not allowing Parliament to function.
Government's chief trouble shooter Pranab Mukherjee continued with his luncheon diplomacy with a meeting with SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Wednesday after confabulations with BJP president Nitin Gadkari and the Left.
In a bid to persuade the Left from pressing for a division, Mukherjee pointed to the government's narrow margin in Lok Sabha and warned the communists that loss of face over a key motion may well spell the end of UPA-2. In the event of such political instability and a fresh election, the Left will have much to fear and nothing to gain.
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